System Transformation

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Modeling the as-is view of an IT organization provides the foundation required to transform IT into a collaborate, adaptive infrastructure. Creating a model of the existing infrastructure will:

Document the Information Management Infrastructure
Documenting the existing information management organization involves the following tasks.

1. List major information management categories as a basis for building the organizational model which include:

1. Create a list of IT operating functions and subject areas being managed in house or by external entities:

1. Extend the list of IT functions to those performed by various business units.
2. Extend the list further to include supplier and customer-related functional areas.
3. Identify the manager of each major category along with individuals responsible for supporting these functions.
4. Obtain organizational plans for information management operating changes.

Identify Major Information Management Functions & Sub-Functions
The following list of eight major information management categories has been decomposed into various sub-functions. These functions and sub-functions provide the design team with a starting point for documenting the existing information infrastructure. Design teams should augment this list with additional categories and sub-functions as needed.

1. Environmental Management
Environmental management describes physical hardware and related software management. Functional areas falling under this category include the management of the data center and related facilities, networks, system software, help desk and communications. It also includes the oversight of all security functions linked to data, networks, mainframes and other areas.

2. Architecture Team
The architecture team plans and oversees networks, data structures and the overall application infrastructure. The architecture team also coordinates methodologies, standards and measurement criteria for all tasks and projects and tracks the collective knowledge of cross-functional systems within the "systems knowledge base".

3. Business Systems Management
The management of the enterprise business systems has shifted between IT, business units and outsourcing firms. Defining the business systems management infrastructure includes all applications, packages, distributed systems, web sites and ad hoc development projects. Tasks include systems maintenance and enhancement work, new development, application package procurement and application vendor management.

4. Supplier / Customer Management
Most organizations exist within a complex labyrinth of vendors, suppliers, customers, distributors and business partners. Documenting current the roles and responsibilities related to these entities includes looking at customer and supply chain management roles, purchasing and inventory management, marketing and distribution chains, and strategic partners. It also includes tracking supply chain relationships, e-business activities and external projects being coordinated by partners or consortiums.

5. Project Office
The project office, formally defined or not, is responsible for tracking and assisting with project management activities. Analysis of this function should extend across business units and external projects to determine how these disciplines are being applied to all projects. This includes enterprise-wide project planning support, project tracking, resource integration and coordination, measurement against plan and project reporting.

6. The e-Business Center
Many e-business activities are defined at the periphery of the organization, with little cohesion or coordination. This results in fragmented e-business projects that should be documented as a prelude to integrating those functions and projects. Functions to be documented include e-business site design, development and coordination.

7. Administration & Finance
IT finance and administration may reside within and outside of what is considered the traditional IT department. The areas to be identified in this analysis include management functions that pay for or contribute to information technology, including IT-related finance, budgeting, procurement, legal, contract management, personnel, outsourcing and other administrative functions.

8. Internal Consulting
The internal consulting group includes groups specializing in emerging technologies, training and facilitation, skill transfer, consulting procurement and outsourcing. These functions are typically distributed across many IT and business units, but should be documented so that they may be coordinated more effectively under a redesigned information management infrastructure.

As each of the above functions and sub-functions are identified, the design team should document certain information as described in points 1-6 above. Figure V.A depicts documentation for the environmental management function along with related sub-functions, managers and team members.

Functions and sub-functions may be highly fragmented and distributed across regional, divisional or managerial boundaries. The greater the functional dispersion, the more time it takes to categorize various functions and sub-functions. This task is important, however, because these functions form the basis for creating an as-is view of information management model, which in turn is the foundation for the new information management infrastructure.

Model the Existing Information Infrastructure
Once major functions and sub-functions have been identified, a preliminary model may be created using the hub-based organizational modeling approach discussed in section III of this methodology. Figure V.B depicts a draft model that incorporates each of the major information categories typically found in a major enterprise.

Figure V.B

Drafting an initial model at this point is a preliminary step towards the organizational modeling process that will follow in later tasks. The satellites surrounding each of these eight major categories do not need to be added to the model at this point. Each major hub listed in Figure V.B should, however, point to a documentation table similar to the one depicted in Figure V.A. Analysts can then refer back to the list of sub-functions, owner / managers and team members as they begin building the new organizational model and governance structure. The as-is infrastructure model and related documentation also guides the creation of distributed design teams and participant structure as defined in later tasks of this methodology.